The mooted late-season showdown between Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert at Saturday's Super 8 Classic won't be taking place after the Belgian pulled out of the race.
After winning a stage and the overall at the recent Tour of Britain, Van Aert was slated to start the 203.6km race in Brakel to continue his build-up to the UEC Road European Championships and UCI Gravel World Championships.
However, his Jumbo-Visma team announced on Friday morning that Van Aert wouldn't be racing as he "is not completely fit".
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"Wout van Aert was originally also scheduled to start in the Super 8 Classic, but he is not completely fit," Jumbo-Visma stated on Twitter.
"He is now focusing on his other goals in the final part of the season."
Van Aert, who turned 29 on Friday, will next race in the time trial (September 20) and road race (September 24) at the Road European Championships before heading to Italy and the Coppa Bernocchi (October 2) and Gran Piemonte (October 5) ahead of the Gravel Worlds near Treviso (October 8).
The series of races will round out Van Aert's season before he turns his attention to the cyclocross campaign at the end of the year.
Van Aert has enjoyed a successful season though perhaps hasn't hit the heights he might have hoped.
He missed out at Milan-San Remo (third), the Tour of Flanders (fourth), and Paris-Roubaix (third) as well as a Tour de France stage win and Road World Championships gold, where he was again second behind career-long rival van der Poel.
Van Aert has racked up 25 top-five placings through the season, including wins at the E3 Saxo Classic, the Belgian time trial title, and a stage and the overall at the Tour of Britain. He'll hope to add to that win list over the coming weeks, with a European road or time trial title and a world gravel title firmly in his sights.
In Van Aert's absence, the Super 8 Classic will be headlined by Van der Poel, who is set to round out his season at the Circuit Franco-Belge, Paris-Tours, and Paris Olympics mountain bike test event.
However, he will only race all four if he feels his form is up to par, having said after the GP de Wallonie that he might end his season earlier than planned.
Van Aert's teammate Christophe Laporte is also down to race the Super 8 Classic along with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), and Arnaud Démare in his sixth outing for Arkéa-Samsic.
However Lotto-Dstny sprinter Arnaud De Lie, is another absence at the race with his team confirming that he won't be taking part on Friday morning.
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